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Nov. 20, 2024 |  By: Rudi Keller - Missouri Independent

What’s in a name? PACs operating in Missouri offer few clues to their purpose or funders

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By Rudi Keller - Missouri Independent

In this year’s elections, American Dream PAC told voters to elect Mike Kehoe as governor while American Promise PAC pushed to elect Vivek Malek as state treasurer.

The Committee for Liberty PAC backed Jay Ashcroft’s bid for governor and Liberty and Justice PAC supported Andrew Bailey for attorney general.

Mike Hamra’s run for governor was supported by Together Missouri PAC and Barbara Phifer’s  secretary of state campaign was backed by SAFE Missouri PAC.

Voters also heard from Southern Drawl PAC, the Old Drum Conservative PAC, the Fearless PAC, the Truth and Light PAC, the Show Me Growth PAC and at least three dozen others offering messages on behalf of candidates.

“They provide remarkably few clues as to who they are and where their money comes from,” said Peverill Squire, political science professor at the University of Missouri. 

Some states require PACs backing single candidates or with specific donors to include the politician or the funders in their name.

Not Missouri. 

Instead, PAC names can be a set of initials used for a reason no one can remember, a feel-good name that doesn’t have anything to do with the interest being promoted or even the name of a favorite television character.

In Missouri, a “continuing committee” can be set up for a variety of reasons.

Sometimes, said Jason Roe, a political consultant who worked for Ashcroft’s campaign, a PAC name has no meaning at all.

“I don’t think, in those cases, a whole lot of thinking goes into it,” Roe said. “It’s a bunch of bros spitballing what they think might be a cool name.”

More often, he said, the idea is to send a signal to voters.

“There’s always going to be some element of trying to use the name to trigger voters to behave positively towards your advertising,” Roe said.

The committees that promoted ballot measures before voters this year are examples. Winning for Missouri Education put the Amendment 2 initiative on the ballot for sports betting, Missourians for Constitutional Freedom put Amendment 3 on the ballot to restore abortion rights and the Committee to Ensure a Future for Sheriffs and Prosecutors campaigned for Amendment 6, which would have put a fee on court cases to fund pension benefits.

As might be expected, Missouri is the most common word in political action committee names, with 228 active funds that have it in full and 85 more with MO that report to the Missouri Ethics Commission.

For a large number of the Missouri-named PACs, there is no doubt about the purpose. The Missouri Farm Bureau PAC, Missouri Right to Life PAC and the Missouri Petroleum & Convenience Association PAC leave no one wondering about their legislative interests.

Neither do the MO Funeral Directors PAC, the MO Dental PAC or the MO Chamber PAC.

But for others that use Missouri — and many other monikers — the name on a candidate disclosure report gives no clue.

Dig a little deeper and find that A Better Missouri is the PAC that handles money donated by brewery giant Anheuser-Busch. 

Missouri Priorities PAC is the conduit for contributions from Republican mega-donor Rex Sinquefield. 

And the Missouri Leadership Fund is money from Accel Entertainment, a Illinois-based firm that lobbies to legalize video lottery games.

One of Accel’s competitors, J&J Ventures, moves money to candidates via PACs with names that mean something only to the lobbying firms that maintain them. Rowdy PAC is the political arm of Rowden Group and Paladin PAC is named after lobbyist Andy Arnold’s favorite television character.

When a candidate committee receives a donation from a PAC, it is the PAC name that is reported as the donor, not the original source of the funds — even when the PAC has only one donor.

The PACs backing single candidates were set up after voters imposed limits on direct donations to candidate committees in 2016. The PACs can accept unlimited contributions, including money directly from corporations and unions that candidates cannot.

“Transparency is gone under this and it would be far better for the donors to write a check to the candidate committee and have it disclosed, and let the voter decide whether that is a factor in their vote,” said Republican consultant John Hancock, who backs removing donation limits.

Voters think there is too much money in politics, but experience since the post-Watergate caps were imposed shows the flow of cash has not diminished, Squire said.

“Missouri’s rules are written in such a way that it’s almost impossible to keep money from making its way into our elections,” he said.

In California, committees must include identifiers in their name that alert the public to their purpose and funders. A candidate committee name must include the last name of the candidate and the office sought. A PAC focused on a single candidate must include the name of the candidate and the sponsoring organization. 

PACs formed to spend money independently must include the name of the candidate or ballot measure supported or opposed, and the sponsoring organization.

In Michigan, a PAC is required to include in the name of the committee the name of the person or persons that sponsor the committee, if any, or with whom the committee is affiliated. Wisconsin doesn’t require a PAC to include a specific identifier but the registration form, unlike Missouri, must include the name of the sponsoring organization.

Because donors are willing to give more than the limits, there are very few members of the state Senate who do not have an affiliated PAC raising money on their behalf, as do many in the Missouri House. Missouri Alliance PAC, affiliated with incoming House Speaker Jon Patterson, raised $1.2 million over the past two years.

Only a small portion include some form of the candidate’s name and none identify the office. 

State Rep. Brad Hudson of Cape Fair, a Republican who won the 33rd Senate District seat, was helped by Brad PAC. State Sen. Doug Beck, an Affton Democrat who won re-election in the 1st Senate District, was helped by DougPAC.

Hudson raised far more for his primary through his candidate committee than Brad PAC. He has mixed feelings about the need for the affiliated committee.

It’s an easy name for backers to remember, he said.

“The thing I like about it being named Brad PAC is when you’re fundraising, when you’re telling folks that this is the PAC that supports you, it’s very easy for them to associate it with me,” Hudson said.

The downside is he doesn’t have any say in how the money is used.

“If the PAC were to do something that I didn’t necessarily like, it would be associated with me by the public because it has my name on the PAC,” he said.

Beck also spent more from his candidate committee account for his re-election than DougPAC. But DougPAC raised more, $715,000, and gave away $232,000 helping other Democrats.

The name helps both in fundraising and identifying the source of the donation when it is reported by other committees, Beck said.

“The reason why it’s probably named that is to try to throw as much transparency in a system that is not very transparent,” Beck said. “That is part of the reason why it’s named what it is and it’s not Freedom PAC for whatever, blah, blah, blah, or this or that, or whatever else.”

Learning who is funding candidates through PACs, especially when those PACs accept donations from PACs, is time-consuming.

“I don’t even know what advice to give a voter to get through the muddle of confusion of all these committees and layers of campaign spending,” Roe said.

Following a dollar from a donor to a committee that spends it rather than moves it to another PAC is daunting, Squire said.

“In Missouri’s case, where we have all these PACs, and it’s almost impossible to trace PACs giving money to PACs and laundering money the way a cartel would,” Squire said, “it gets a little discouraging.”